moemac59

Cmon we wanna see all Dec. filers in red!!!

Fingers crossed and sending out good vibes for movement to happen soon.

Your wife will have to do a biometrics for AOS/ROC and N-400.

You said you don't talk to your sister, so how do you know she hasn't already gained her citizenship thru marriage??

She divorced her 2nd husband a couple of years ago and I know that she didn't apply for citizenship back then. We were still speaking when she got divorced from the 2nd husband.

Wow, Robbery! And they aren't even efficient at robbing us .

Joking aside, I know becoming a citizen is a privilege and I am excited to call myself American (well, Can-American ). Still have one year to go before I am even eligible - guess I can use this time to study up on citizenship tests!

I studied for the citizenship interview for 6 months every night. I printed off the flashcards, laminated them and my husband would quiz me nightly. After my naturalization ceremony, my husband had a huge celebratory party for me. We used these cards at the party to quiz people. A friend of mine made a HUMONGOUS tray of jello shots and each person had to pick a flashcard and answer it correctly or do a Jello shot. After the question on that card was asked, it was thrown into our firepit. I was never so excited to burn anything in my whole life.

The fee for citizenship (N-400) is $680 ($595 application + $85 biometric fee).

Thanks Happy Chic....I guess I must have blanked out on the cost LOL

Hilarious and brutal all at the same time, especially considering the fees associated with the Green Card renewal, only to not or barely get the 10 year card in hand and turn around to apply for citizenship!! What were the citizenship fees, if you don't mind my asking?

Mine cost me more as I had an attorney for the last part of that journey (close to $3500.00). I am working for a Canadian company and had to be in Canada 3 days a week so I was worried about the travel back and forth and if this would come up on during my N-400 interview...which it did but the IO was super nice and he totally understood. I guess being so close to a international border ERIE-BUFFALO, that immigration office sees a lot of Canadians who apply for citizenship that work daily in Canada but reside in the Western NY area.

The cost to file the citizenship application is $650.00.

I read an ariticle last year that states there are over 100,00 canadians living illegally in the US , makes me wander why a canadian would come to the US to live illegally . I think Canada is better in some aspects than the US .

We were very little when we first moved from Canada to the US back in 1966. She ended up getting pregnant and running away from home in 1974. My parents didn't see or hear from her for 7 years and when they reconnected with her, we had moved back to Canada, while she had stayed in the US and married the father of her child.

She divorced him and remarried and had 2 other children with that father. She's a bit of a hot mess hence no renewal of GC.

Has she ever heard of attorney-client privilege?

She's not the brightest crayon in the box and when we last spoke, I tried to tell her this but she was still extremely distrustful

This long ago, I think greencards didn't have an expiry date, afaik the ten year expiration only started in 1979, so she may simply be a greencard holder still.

IF she is indeed NOT a US citizen and at one stage had a US passport, she missrepresented herself and that carries a lifetime ban, if the USCIS knows.

Thanks Penguin, I think that this may be the case on for both.. She never changed/updated/renewed the greencard that INS (at that time) issued. I figured as much about the passport thing. She was always super paranoid about contacting an immigration attorney to get her paperwork going as she didn't want the attorney to report her to USCIS so this definitely makes sense.

Here is the situation and asking because I need some info.

My family moved to the US back in 1966. We moved back to Canada in 1976 without my older sister. Long story short, my sister stayed in the US all that time and she did not renew her GC. I know at one point back in the late 80's she had an American passport. How she got this without proof of citizenship is beyond me.

I know for a fact that she has not become a US citizen. I don't speak to this sister but am actually curious what would happen to her if she tried to apply for citizenship. Would she be deported?

The only reason that I am inquiring is that I have a very sick mother who has a terminal illness. There is going to come a time when my sister will have to leave the US to go back to Canada to see my mother before she passes. I am thinking that if she does go to Canada that she will be denied access coming back into the US.

Any insight into this will be helpful.

My greencard took almost 11 months after I went for my biometric appointment. I applied for citizenship shortly after I got it.

C'mon Chicago let's go! Fingers crossed hoping that there is some movement soon. It would be nice to all of those timelines in red.

Welcome to the process of dealing with USCIS. Your case timeline will vary depending on what your case is like. It varies for each individual. The processing times are a crapshoot for some and each case is different.

You do not need a lawyer unless you have a very complicated case. I filed all of my own paperwork up until I applied for citizenship and that was the only time I used an attorney as I work for a Canadian company and have to go back and forth to Toronto weekly. I wasn't sure how my case would be affected as I was only at home 70% of the time/.

I put together my packet for citizenship and just had my lawyer review it. When it came time for my citizenship interview, the IO joked about the amount of stuff that I had submitted.

Follow the guidelines and you should be fine. Patience will be your best friend when it comes to this long journey.

Today was the big day; my naturalization ceremony. A guest and I arrived at the M. O. Campbell Educational Center in north Houston at 7:15, a little later than indicated on the oath letter. It was raining heavily when we got there and some people were soaked by the time they made it across the large parking lot to the entrance; luckily I had two umbrellas. At the entrance guests were ushered inside so they could wait in the auditorium while applicants waited outside in a covered area. Our oath letters had numbers on them (from 0 to 9) and these corresponded to the check-in table that you were supposed to go to. After about 20 minutes I was inside the building and 10 minutes after that I was at the front of the line for my table. I turned in my oath letter and green card and was given my certificate to check. I was then given a purple piece of paper and told that we would be dismissed by color (colors corresponded to order of arrival, so those who get there earlier get to leave earlier). I met my guest and we sat together on the second tier of the auditorium (the lower tier was already mostly full). This was at around 8:00 am. As I walked in, I was given a packet containing an American flag, a welcome letter from President Obama, and a copy of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. There were a few announcements made about the colored pieces of paper, but mostly people just took photos and talked and waited. Around 9:00 am the doors were closed and ceremony began with a brief speech by the USCIS director. At this point she asked any applicants who had requested a modified oath to see her and shortly after that, she introduced the judge. The U.S. And Texas flags were brought in and a young lady sang the national anthem. The judge opened the formal court session and made some very kind remarks urging people to relax, take as many photos as they wanted, and not worry about their kids making noise; he said that it was a formal court session, it was a day to celebrate. He also said that he'd stick around afterwards and pose for photos with anyone who was interested. The USCIS director indicated that of the 2089 people scheduled for the oath, 2020 were present and asked the judge to "continue the applications" of those not present, whatever that means. The judge then introduced several members of the armed forces who were being naturalized and asked them to stand and be recognized. He then asked all applicants to stand and he read the entire oath of citizenship at once, after which he said, "If that is your oath, please say, 'I will'" and everyone said "I will." The judge then congratulated us as "his fellow Americans". Before we sat down, we recited the pledge of allegiance. The judge said a few more words about the importance of voting, but kept it brief. That was it; simple, but very enjoyable. There were no additional songs and no video from the president as I've read about at other ceremonies. The judge closed the session and dismissed us shortly before 10:00 am. USCIS officials called out the first color to be dismissed and I heard them call green, orange, pink, yellow, and red before they called purple about 30 minutes after the ceremony ended. When I left, the judge was still posing for photos with over 100 people still in line, so he was going to be there for a while. I went back to table 9 and gave them my purple paper (which they'd written my A-number on). They gave me my certificate and congratulated me. Attached to my certificate was a name change order signed by the judge. Also, unlike almost all the other applicants, the photo on my certificate was the one I had submitted with my application and not the one taken at biometrics. Based on what I've read this is common for those who change their names. The photo was glued on and embossed, not scanned and printed. We left the building at roughly 10:45 and walked out into a hot, humid, sunny Houston morning.

YAY!! Congrats and what a great summary!! I got the same letter as well at my ceremony. So happy that you are finally done. Only step left is to apply for your US passport.

Off topic just a little bit. I am here in Vancouver, BC Canada now. First time outside the U.S as a U.S citizen. People here are so nice. Everything is so beautiful and the city is so dynamic. I am considering to move here lol. (A new chapter as a Canadian citizen may be lol). I will share my experience when I come back to the U.S as a citizen.

Oi Vey!! If you found the path to US Citizenship challenging that you will be in for a long haul for Canadian citizenship. The Canadian gov't is as slow as molasses.

But on a lighter note, glad that you are enjoying Vancouver and yes the people there are nice....not so much in Toronto though.

Enjoy the rest of your stay Boy15

Hi from the naturalization ceremony!

Just waiting for things to get underway.

YAY!!! Finally this is almost over for you. When you get back Jimmy, you get to change the status in your signature.

Congrats this is so exciting and what a huge ceremony. I love that you are posting LIVE on VJ right now. You should also be tweeting this as well.

Again congrats and cannot wait to hear all about and to see more of those black statuses become red!

Hey all,

I just wanted to say that I got the NEXUS card absolutely no problem-o! Told them up-front that I had a K-1 visa currently in processing (the case wasn't approved at that time) and I was in and out in 15 minutes, even joked with the US Customs and Border Protection officer about the poptart he was currently munching on. Zero issues. All the officers for US/Canada did was ask me if I had to say "yes" to any of the questions printed out on a sheet of paper (all criminal-related questions) and I said no to all, and then they took my retina scan and fingerprints and I was on my way!

As IRUNFORFUN said, I got my card within 2 weeks.

Kool glad to hear everything worked out for you!

As everyone is saying, do not waste anymore money on this. I just put mine together and it was thick and just stuck it in the envelope and sent it off. They pull it apart once they receive it anyways.

Summer Olympics - it will be USA

Winter Olympics especially men's and women's hockey - will always be Canada. During the last winter Olympics, I made a bet with my husband that Canada would take gold in men's/women's hockey. He of course had a lapse of judgement and thought that the US would win. Well, he was wrong. He had to run down our street with a big ole Canadian flag and a sign on his front and back

Congrats everyone!! Doing my happy dances for you. Again nice to see all of those timelines in our topic turning red for citizenship changes.

Wow haven't logged for awhile but nice to see all that red instead of black in the timeline section.

Just a quick passport update. I went to the Buffalo passport office last Friday. I opted for expedited service as I have been having an issue with the same customs officer at the NEXUS bridge. The people at the passport office could not have been nicer and the lady that I was dealing with put a rush on my passport so it would be ready that day instead of having to come back to the office on Monday for pick up.

I picked up my US passport at 3pm the same day. Now I can finally say that I am done with USCIS!!

You can work for a Canadian company remotely but you have to be very careful about how much time you are spending in Canada. Keep track of all your days coming in and out of Canada as you will have to provide this information to USCIS if you plan on going through the N400 process.

I also work for a Canadian company and was telecommuting from home twice a week then was working in TO Weds-Fri during my ROC/N400 process. I keep a log of the time that I entered/departed Canada.

I had a great lawyer who advise me to do this. My job situation was brought up at my citizenship interview and the CO seemed satisfied with the answer I gave him.

Just an fyi but the day that you depart the US and the day that you come back into the US counts as a day of physical presence in the United States.

Hope that this information is useful to someone.

One more thing, I know that Warlord suggested that you tell customs that you were visiting your dad but I would suggest that you be completely honest and let them know what you were doing in Canada especially if you intend on going back and forth frequently for work. I never had any issues with customs and I have been crossing weekly to work in Canada since 2014. I have a NEXUS card but keep my Canadian passport with me as a back up in case I had any issues crossing into Canada for work.

One week, Monday-Friday, she will stay non resident. If she goes every week, Monday-Friday, CRA might determine she is a deemed resident.

I went every week to Toronto for work as I work for a Canadian company based out of Toronto. I listed my US address as my residency when I filed my Canadian tax return and had no issues.

I was hoping since I was a Canadian citizen I wouldn't need anything. I really want to do this correctly. I'll be spending the majority of my time living in the US.

My working remotely was never under scrutiny and we were up front about it the entire time. We asked about it after our K1 interview. The CO asked my husband about my work in my green card interview and didn't care; it was asked more as a how well do you know her type of a way. At this point I firmly believe working remotely is allowed, not because USCIS says it is, but more because they can't say no. I never worked for anyone in the US.

You can work for a Canadian company remotely but you have to be very careful about how much time you are spending in Canada. Keep track of all your days coming in and out of Canada as you will have to provide this information to USCIS if you plan on going through the N400 process.

I also work for a Canadian company and was telecommuting from home twice a week then was working in TO Weds-Fri during my ROC/N400 process. I keep a log of the time that I entered/departed Canada.

I had a great lawyer who advise me to do this. My job situation was brought up at my citizenship interview and the CO seemed satisfied with the answer I gave him.

Just an fyi but the day that you depart the US and the day that you come back into the US counts as a day of physical presence in the United States.

Hope that this information is useful to someone.

I took a binder full of docs to my interview that were I had provided for my application and the interviewer didn't want to see anything. He had reviewed my file and even made a crack about the fact that my husband and I were using Direct TV. He was impressed that I did bring all of my docs that I had submitted with my application.

I think it depends on the officer who is interviewing you.

I gave them my information from the time I entered and resided in the US. I also filed based on the 3 yr rule. I had no problems with my application.